The invention relates to the field of beverage control and record keeping devices, and more particularly, to the area of automatic record keeping using data processing devices in combination with inexpensive radio equipped bottle caps.
It is well known that the dispensing of expensive beverages such as liquor must be carefully monitored to avoid waste and pilferage. The management of establishments such as bars and taverns have long found it necessary to carefully monitor the relationship between liquor dispensed and the receipts. Historically, this has usually necessitated personal attendance of at least one owner of the business.
In recent years there have also been several patents granted for systems and devices aimed at recording and counting the amount and types of liquor dispensed by bar tenders and relating same to the monetary receipts. Such inventions include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,170,597, 3,599,833, 3,688,947, and 3,993,218, all issued to Reichenberger. In addition there is U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,218 issued to Coja. In general, these inventions represent large, space consuming, cumbersome, and expensive investments for the management of liquor dispensing establishments, frequently requiring major renovations to already crowded bar facilities. Many are also difficult to maintain and disabling to the business when the equipment is not operative. Moreover, most of the prior art devices have been unattractive to the customers since they do not simulate conventional pouring methods, and cause customers to be apprehensive about the amount and type of liquor being poured.
In recent years, liquor dispensing establishments have utilized a mechanical measuring device in the form of an enlarged bottle cap having a spout which meters out one jigger of liquor and then stops to indicate both to the customer and the bartender that the measured quantity of liquor has been poured. Despite the fact that such devices do not monitor the relationship between the amount of liquor poured and the receipts therefor, these measuring devices are in widespread use because they at least provide a simplified convenient, and reliable measuring device for both bartender and customer. These mechanical measuring devices are simply moved from an empty bottle to the next full bottle as needed. Since they are in widespread use, they also enjoy almost universal acceptance by customers and bartenders. The control cap of the present invention includes a size and shape comparable to these mechanical devices already in such common use. It therefore will not even be apparent to the customer that the present invention is in use, thereby insuring customer acceptance.
Of course, it is clear that such a system must include true portability wherein the liquor bottles can be moved about freely without any wires or other attachments thereto, that the caps must be readily removable by the bartender to change bottles when one bottle is emptied and a new bottle is to be initiated, and that this procedure must in itself result in a signal so that the number of bottles of liquor consumed can be related to the receipts. The number of bottlecaps necessary for effective use of the invention must of course be large, the system must provide certain identification of each bottle from each other bottle, and the system must provide for almost instant expansion in the number of bottles. In addition, where multiple bars are used in proximity to one another, the system must differentiate from the various bars without interference with each other. Moreover, because of the large number of bottle caps to be employed, they must be of extremely low cost manufacture, be readily programmable only by the operator of the equipment, but not by bartenders or customers, be of sufficient range to permit remote location of the receiving and data processing devices, while at the same time utilizing a bottle cap circuitry of extremely low power consumption to maximize the life of a minute battery contained therein. Further means should be provided for the operator of the equipment to know when a given bottle cap battery is reaching a low power and requiring replacement for continued effective operation. Reliable operation and minimal maintenance are enhanced by minimizing the number of moving parts, which is one of the evident shortcomings of the prior art.
At the same time, a practical device must permit a plurality of pour sizes on a given cap, and that cap must be capable of transmitting an appropriate signal for each such size. The latter feature is substantially required by the necessity to pour mixed drinks involving a variety of different ingredients and quantities thereof.